Birla Planetarium, Chennai

Author: utbt

23Jan2012

Was a total let down.

When my sister-in-law said, ‘An hour is enough for the planetarium visit. There is the movie show and nothing else’, I couldn’t quite understand where this was coming from. I had images of CDM in my mind and was thinking that I could easily spend a day in the planetarium and tech center. With half a heart I agreed to combine the library and planetarium. Thinking back I am glad I did.

They have a small dome theater, well maintained and the space movies they play are hand picked. No complaints. Once you are outside the theater, the air is nauseatingly thick with the smell of urine.

The tech center boasts 500 exhibits. Not one of it was working. Not one.

There is a 3-D movie show in the tech center, the access to which is through a puddle of water and I imagined the worst as to the contaminants of the water. The movie as such was about 20 min, a take on Alice in Wonderland and one another piece that I don’t remember right now. The girls liked it, they FINALLY understood the 3-D and were tad scared but mostly excited. I just sat and made encouraging noises.

I cannot get over the fact that the building was leaking inside and water was flooding the floors. Add to this the over powering smell from the rest rooms. Disappointing.

This was in my to visit list,,,now im wondering whether i should go. Likewise if you are planning to visit the Egmore museum, the only one worth visiting is the zoological exhibits,most others are pathetic with no maintenance.

hi all,
My visit to birla planetorium in chennai was totally disappointing. there are lots of science models which could be of great use for the kids to understand concepts well. But none of them are in good shape. Very shameful. The newly constructed concept about dinosaurs is good.But i am puzzled why great importance is given to an extinct animal. the money and effort could have been used to improve and maintain the existing science models.